Close Reading from Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick (pg. 1-3) PDF Free Download
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Name: ______________________________________________ Period: ______ Due date: ___________________
Close Reading from Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick (pg. 1-3)
DIRECTIONS: Read the following passage. While reading, underline, summarize, label, define, question and record
inferences and other literary devices in the margins. Then, answer the questions on the reverse side completely.
I never had a brain until Freak came along and let me borrow his for a while, and that’s the truth,
the whole truth. The unvanquished truth, is how Freak would say it, and for a long time it was
him who did the talking. Except I had a way of saying things with my fists and my feet even
before we became Freak the Mighty, slaying dragons and fools and walking high above the
world.
Called me Kicker for a time—this was day care, the year Gram and Grim took me over—and I
had a thing about booting anyone who dared to touch me. Because they were always trying to
throw a hug on me, like it was a medicine I needed.
Gram and Grim, bless their pointed little heads, they’re my mother’s people, her parents, and they
figured whoa! better put this little critter with other little critters his own age, maybe it will
improve his temper.
Yeah right! Instead, what happened, I invented games like kick-boxing and kick-knees and kick-
faces and kick-teachers, and kick-the-other-little-day-care-critters, because I knew what a rotten
lie that hug stuff was. Oh, I knew.
That’s when I got my first look at Freak, that year of the phony hugs. He didn’t look so different
back then, we were all of us pretty small, right? But he wasn’t in the playroom with us every day,
just now and then he’d show up. Looking sort of fierce, is how I remember him. Except later it
was Freak himself who taught me that remembering is a great invention of the mind, and if you
try hard enough you can remember anything, whether it really happened or not.
So maybe he wasn’t really all that fierce in day care, except I’m pretty sure he
did hit a kid with his crutch once, whacked the little brat pretty good. And for
some reason little kicker never got around to kicking little Freak.
Maybe it was those crutches kept me from lashing out at him, man those crutches
Annotation checklist:
□ Underline
□ Summarize
□ Label
□ Define
□ Question
□ Inferences
□ Literary devices
were cool. I wanted a pair for myself. And when little Freak showed up one day with these shiny
braces strapped to his crooked legs, metal tubes right up to his hips, why those were even more
cool than crutches.
“I’m Robot Man,” little Freak would go, making these weird robot noises as he humped himself
around the playground. Rrrr…rrrr…rrrr… like he had robot motors inside his legs going
rrrrr…rrrr…rrrr…, and this look, like don’t mess with me, man, maybe I got a laser cannon
hidden inside these leg braces, smoke a hole right through you. No question, Freak was hooked
on robots even back then, this little guy two feet tall, and already he knew what he wanted.
Read all parts of the question first to make sure you are answering the questions completely!
1. Cite a piece of text evidence that explains a CONFLICT that shapes a character’s identity. Explain. (RL7.1, 7.4)
2. Cite a piece text evidence that shows the reader the protagonist’s POINT OF VIEW. Explain. (RL7.1, RL7.6)
3. After reading the first few pages of Freak the Mighty, what do you think the THEME is? (It’s in your Literature
notebook if you need it!) Respond in a RAISE response. Attach additional paper if needed. (RL7.1,7.4, W7.4)
□ Cite a piece of
text evidence
□ Explain
□ Best work
□ Restate
□ Answer
□ Include
support
□ Extend
□ Best work
□ Cite a piece of
text evidence
□ Explain
□ Best work
